Three finalists chosen in Mercy Health Saint Mary's search for new CEO

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Three finalists have been identified in the search for a new chief executive officer to succeed Phil McCorkle at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s, officials said Monday, June 3.

The three candidates, all from outside the hospital system, were chosen from a pool of 12 applicants interviewed by the search committee, said Roger Spoelman, Mercy Health regional president and chief executive officer.

The committee members will meet Thursday to discuss their perceptions. Spoelman said he hopes a decision will be announced this month.

“If we can’t make a decision, we’ll go back to the candidate pool,” he said, speaking at ceremony unveiling the new name and logo for the hospital, formerly Saint Mary’s Health Care. “It’s going to be a tough decision.”

McCorkle, the CEO for 12 years at Saint Mary’s said he will step down “sometime this summer,” after the successor is named.

He will continue to work as a philanthropy consultant for the hospital’s parent company, Trinity Health. The Livonia-based national health system merged May 1 with Catholic Health East, creating a hospital system with 82 hospitals in 21 states and with annual operating revenue of $13.3 billion.

“Now that we have 82 hospitals, we are looking to standardize our philanthropic opportunities,” he said. “We could do a much more effective job and make it easier for people to give.”

In his leadership at Saint Mary’s, McCorkle drew on help from donors to develop the $60 million Hauenstein Neuroscience Center and the $46 million Lacks Cancer Center.

“People love to give,” he said. “But you have to ask them, and that’s awkward for some people if you don’t have the right backup materials to share.”